Special thanks to Ray Robinson, Dr Adrian Peterson, and Jeff White for Part 2, of the BBC Daventry feature. Last week's Part 1 is available at: https://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/2026/01/bbc-daventry-part-1.html
Jeff: Today we conclude our two-part feature about the large BBC shortwave transmission facility at Daventry in the English Midlands. Last week, we reached about 1935, at the time when the BBC purchased an additional 95 acres and began the construction of a new transmitter building capable of holding three large shortwave transmitters, and erected 25 new antennas, 14 of which were reversible curtains. Here’s Ray Robinson in Los Angeles to continue the story.
Ray: Thanks Jeff. Yes, we also mentioned last week that the BBC had announced plans to acquire two new 100 kW transmitters. They did indeed buy two new units made by STC, the British equivalent of the American Western Electric Company, although the transmitters weren’t quite as powerful as had been planned. They were, in fact only capable of output power ranging between 50 and 80 kW, but they were duly installed and commissioned in 1937 as Senders 4 and 5.
In addition, a small 7.5 kW transmitter was also installed in the new ‘Empire Service Building’, and all three were on the air for the special broadcasts associated with the Coronation of His Majesty King George VI. Sender 6, a Marconi 100 kW transmitter, was commissioned nearly a year later.
It should be remembered that similar progress was underway at the same time in other countries around the world. Statistics during that era reveal that there were 131 shortwave transmitters on the air worldwide in May 1936, and by October in the following year 1937, there were then 245 shortwave transmitters on the air. The number had almost doubled in less than 18 months.
During the late 30’s, BBC Daventry was usually on the air with two transmitters in parallel, though occasionally three were employed. For very special occasions, they would sometimes activate as many as four of these shortwave transmitters with parallel programming.
In April 1938, the additional 100 kW Marconi transmitter (Sender 6) was shoe-horned into the Empire Service Building, and work commenced on the addition of an east wing to the building for the installation of two more new 100 kW Marconi units. These were commissioned in February 1939 as Senders 8 and 9.
Back at this time, it was common practice to allocate a callsign to a specific transmitter (not to a station), and then to give supplementary callsigns for each channel or waveband used by that unit. The primary callsign for BBC Daventry was GSE, with the "E" standing for Empire. All 26 letters of the English alphabet were used for various shortwave channels, and then they began to allocate additional callsigns in a similar manner in the GR series. Callsigns in the range GSA, GSB, GSC, etc, right down to GSZ were all taken up, one call per shortwave channel; and then they began to use the sequence in the GR series, beginning with GRZ and working backwards in the English alphabet, GRY, GRX, etc., right up to GRA.
With political events heating up on continental Europe, the BBC began to introduce foreign language programming into its external shortwave services. The first additional language was Arabic which was inaugurated in January 1938. Two months later, Spanish and Portuguese for South America were introduced, followed by several continental languages in the following year or two. Studios for all of these external services were established in Bush House, London, which became the home of the BBC World Service for many decades.
At the time of the outbreak of hostilities in continental Europe in September 1939, BBC Daventry was on the air with nine shortwave transmitters, designated as follows:
Building Transmitters Make kW Identification
Original Shortwave Building 2 STC 10 Senders 1 & 2
5GB Medium Wave Building 1 Marconi 60 Sender 3
Two Wings of Empire Service Building 2 STC 80 Senders 4 & 5
Marconi 100 Senders 6, 8 & 9
Marconi 7.5 Standby
The designation Sender 7 was reserved for a bifurcated transmitter that was capable of radiating on two channels simultaneously, and that was installed more than a year later, in December 1040. In BBC terminology, it was actually identified as Sender 7A and 7B.
A new relay service via the BBC commenced on Saturday April 25, 1942, and this was on behalf of the new Voice of America with its studios in Madison Avenue, New York City. Programing was either taken off air and forwarded by landline to Daventry, or it was sent by undersea cable and re-transmitted from Daventry on shortwave. Some programming was sent to England on recorded discs. At this stage, the BBC initially incorporated the American programming into their own scheduling, rather than broadcasting the American programs as a separate relay.
During this decisive era, the BBC began work on three additional large shortwave transmitter sites, at Skelton, Rampisham and Woofferton, and by the end of 1943, the BBC was capable of
handling 43 different shortwave transmissions simultaneously. By the end of the war in 1945, direct relays of the Voice of America had been transferred from Daventry to the new facility at Wooferton.
Following the war, Britain experienced a period of austerity, with rationing continuing into the early 1950’s, and the BBC was not immune. Beginning on February 10, 1947, every BBC transmitter was required to drop its power output to 50 kW. This was not only for economy, but also because the power generating equipment in England was getting quite old and it had not been possible to upgrade it for many years. This requirement was in force for a period of two years and it was finally lifted on March 21, 1949.
On July 20, 1963, there was a total solar eclipse across the Atlantic and Radio Canada International made arrangements with the BBC to broadcast a special series of transmissions beamed towards Canada. Three years later, RCI began regular relays via BBC Daventry for programming beamed towards continental Europe and the Mediterranean areas. Then, in 1967, RCI actually bought two of the shortwave transmitters at Daventry for relay purposes. Programming by this time was provided by a satellite link from Canada to England.
During the 1960’s, a modernization program was implemented at Daventry with the removal of several older transmitters which were replaced by more modern and higher-powered equipment. Additionally, the antenna systems were also upgraded.
However, time was moving on and the grand old facility at Daventry was beginning to show its age. It was becoming evident that the entire facility would need to be rebuilt, or simply closed down in favor of other more modern locations. A date was set for the final closure of the station and the sale of the land for other purposes. This would finally come in 1992.
For a period of almost sixty years, the majestic station at Daventry had been on the air with up to two dozen shortwave transmitters, some as powerful as 250 kW, radiating through a bevy of around 50 different antenna systems.
In preparation for the ultimate demise of BBC Daventry, usable equipment was removed and transferred to other locations. And for the final closure of the last transmitter on air, a farewell party was held with dignitaries coming in from many different places and organizations. It had to happen; and it took place at 1130 UTC on Sunday March 29, 1992.
Sender 24 was the last remaining transmitter still on the air; most of the others had already been removed. That unit was radiating on the well-known BBC channel 15070 kHz, formerly designated as shortwave channel GWC. The broadcast came to its end, and the transmitter was switched off. The BBC Daventry shortwave site was now silent, forever.
The property was sub-divided, and some was sold for a housing development and a local park. Two years later, all of the antenna towers were dropped, except one which is now in use for local phone communication. In one of the still standing buildings, a radio museum was established, and you can now find information about that online at daventrymuseum.co.uk.
Back to you Jeff
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